McDonald's put out a press release today touting the return of its Asian salad, a mix of greens, mandarins and almonds it sold a couple of years ago until discontinuing it for reasons the company never quite explained. It's going to be available only in Southern California, only until early September, and only at certain locations, yet McDonald's insists its salad is “popular.”
The Mickey D's inside the Walmart in Orange offered samples over the weekend, but no one wanted them. The nice gal asking people if they wanted to try it was met with outright ignorance and waved-off rejections.
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What yahoo wants to eat a salad at McDonald's? Feeling sad for the gal, I tried a sample and liked it–but that's the problem. This was more candy bar than salad. The ginger dressing was as saccharine as syrup, the mandarin oranges as fluffy and sugary as marshmallows. They put so many almonds slivers on top of the greens it looked like and had the crunch of trail mix. There were greens somewhere in the cup, snow peas and edamame and other roughage, but it was almost imperceptible.
A great salad is supposed to highlight the natural bounty Earth offers; any dressing is supposed to accentuate, not dominate, the dish. This salad is telling of the company's conception of what constitutes a healthy meal–and that its customer base largely ignored the freebies for the five minutes or so I saw the gal, along with me noticing her still-full tray half an hour later, shows that anyone who eats at Mickey D's isn't interested in salads, and anyone interested in salads won't try the House That Ronald Built (With an Assist From Asshole Ray Kroc) ever.
But if you want unhealthy food? This is the place. Had myself an apple pie after the salad–how could you not?
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